Early Pregnancy Symptoms Before Missed Period

You did the baby dance during your fertile time and now you have to wait and see if sperm did, in fact, meet egg.

The two week wait is a long one.

Added to that, pregnancy tests aren’t reliable enough to detect accurately the low levels of hCG that could be in your body.

So you can’t pass the time by peeing on a stick (or three) and trying to work out whether you see a faint line or not.

However, there are a few symptoms that could reveal the first signs of pregnancy before missed period.

Many of them are similar to PMS symptoms.

To make it easier for you, we’ve put together a list of 11 pregnancy symptoms before missed period:

#1: Elevated Basal Body Temperature

Tracking your body temperature over time is useful if you’re trying to pinpoint ovulation.

It’s also a pretty accurate sign of pregnancy too. Before ovulation, your body temperature will rise, then fall back to normal once your period begins.

But if conception occurs, your body temperature will remain elevated from ovulation throughout pregnancy.

To be certain, of course, you need to have a history of temperature tracking.

#2: Implantation Signs

Remember, it can take between 5 and 12 days after conception for the fertilised egg to burrow into the uterine lining.

If your egg is in a hurry, you could feel, or even see, the signs of implantation before your missed period.

Some women feel a pricking, pinching or tingling sensation in the pelvic area. This is called implantation cramping.

Occasionally, women notice some light spotting in the week before, or around the time, their period is due.

This is called implantation bleeding and can be mistaken for the beginning of your period.

It can last a few hours or days, and usually appears as small spots of blood you see on your underwear or when wiping.

#3: Tender Breasts

This might be something you notice each month, right before your period is due.

It can also be a very early pregnancy symptom.

After conception, your body produces increasing levels of estrogen and progesterone – hormones that make your pregnancy a reality.

Even before you’re aware of being pregnant, these hormones help to prepare your body for breastfeeding. How cool is that!

But, as a flipside, both hormones are also responsible for causing your breasts to feel tender and very sensitive.

During very early pregnancy, some women find their breasts feel fuller, heavier and so sensitive they can’t stand being touched by anything, not even fabric.

If putting on your shirt causes you to flinch and bite back a scream, you could be pregnant.

#4: Darkening Nipples

The colour and shape of your nipples is something you’re pretty familiar with.

So it might be a surprise to notice the area around your nipple (called the areola) has darkened, looks bigger and has tiny bumps.

This is definitely not a PMS sign but another early pregnancy symptom showing your body is preparing to nurse a baby.

Pregnancy hormones stimulate an increase in the amount of melanin your body produces. Melanin is the hormone that gives you the colour of your skin, hair and eyes.

Why do your nipples get darker then? Because your body is anticipating feeding a baby in 9 months. Newborns can basically only see the difference between light and dark; darker nipples are easier to distinguish.

The areolas also get larger and bumpier to assist in successful breastfeeding.

The bumps are glands that produce oil to moisturise and protect the skin around the nipple.

These glands also release a special scent to help your newborn, who can’t see too well, to find the breast.

All these changes can make your nipples feel prickly and very sensitive.

#5: Fatigue

If it’s the week after you might have conceived, and you suddenly finding yourself nodding off on the train first thing in the morning, then you could be pregnant.

Tiredness isn’t the right word for the exhaustion that settles on you during early pregnancy.

How can something the size of a pinhead make you feel so darned tired?

Progesterone is the culprit here. Rising levels of this pregnancy hormone will make you feel sleepy and so very tired all of the time.

#6: Nausea

Some women experience a day or so of feeling a bit queasy and ‘off’ in the week before their period.

However, within a few days of conception your levels of progesterone and estrogen begin to rise and this can trigger what’s commonly known as ‘morning sickness’.

We prefer to call it pregnancy sickness because it can occur at any time of the day or night.

How early and severe nausea is in early pregnancy varies among women, but 50% of pregnant women feel nauseated in the first six 6 weeks of pregnancy.

#7: Aversions And Cravings

A heightened sense of smell can be a very early sign you’re pregnant.

The smell of something you love, like your partner’s cologne or your favourite meal, could now send you running.

Or you might be able to smell something nice but no one else in the room can.

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Sam McCulloch Dip CBEdCONTRIBUTOR

Sam McCulloch enjoyed talking so much about birth she decided to become a birth educator and doula, supporting parents in making informed choices about their birth experience. In her spare time she writes novels. She is mother to three beautiful little humans.

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